Winnipeg fire crews responded to more than 500 homelessness-related fires in past year

Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service crews responded to more than 500 fires linked to homelessness over the past year, a figure city officials and the firefighters’ union say highlights ongoing safety and resource concerns.

Between January and Nov. 30, Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service responded to 543 encampment-related fires. The calls ranged from major blazes to smaller fires that did not require extinguishing. In 2024, crews responded to 512 similar incidents.

“It is deeply concerning to see that over 500 fires had occurred at encampments across the City of Winnipeg,” said Vivian Santos, chairwoman of community services, City of Winnipeg.

Fire officials say the classification goes beyond fires inside encampments.

“It’s fires involving homelessness. It doesn’t necessarily mean a fire in an encampment. It could be any fire that the crews can make a judgement call may involve homelessness,” said Lisa Gilmour, assistant chief of community risk reduction, Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service.

Santos said the city expects the encampment protocol introduced in November 2025 to help reduce the number of fires and address public safety concerns.

“And it just doesn’t make it safe for residents if they wanted to use the park or their family who wants to use the park. So that does give them a lot of cause for concern,” Santos said.

The firefighters’ union says even if encampment fires decline, overall call volumes are unlikely to drop in the near future.

“When we are talking about 500 calls a year, that’s really a drop in a bucket, compared to the 140,000 calls we are responding to annually,” said Nick Kasper, president of the United Firefighters of Winnipeg, IAFF Local 867.

Santos said the city expects conditions to improve in the coming year.

“This year, in 2026, we are going to start to see the trend going upwards, less encampments in our public spaces, more housing units coming on the line and new FTEs coming on board with Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Services,” she said.